Military has constitutional responsibility to protect Nigerians – Army Chief of Admin
Nigerian Military on Friday said it had the constitutional and moral responsibility to protect Nigerians and could not suddenly engage in mass murder as portrayed in the allegations by Amnesty International.
Maj.-Gen. Adamu Abubakar, Chief of Administration of the Nigerian Army, said this while briefing newsmen on the recent allegations of war crimes against some senior military officers by the Amnesty International.
Abubakar said following the Amnesty International report released on June 3, the Nigerian military as a responsible corporate organisation was bound to respond to the allegations in order to put the records in proper perspective.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Amnesty International allegations of human rights abuse and extra judicial killing of civilians are a rehash of the same allegations made against the military since 2011.
“No new facts have been unearthed by Amnesty International to warrant their repeated allegations.
“However, the figures adduced by Amnesty International as victims of extra judicial killing by the military have kept on increasing from 4,600 to 8,000 and even as high as 13,000 civilians,” Abubakar said.
He recalled that upon the written request from Amnesty International to the military to comment on the allegations, the military promptly commenced investigations into the allegations.
He said consequently, several investigations on the allegations were ongoing.
Abubakar said the preliminary investigation reports submitted had resulted in the release of some under-aged detainees, women and children from some military holding facilities.
He said sequel to the report of the investigation panel, 42 detainees were handed over to Borno Government on Nov. 6, 2014 and another set of 124 persons was also handed over to the Borno Government on Nov. 8, 2014, respectively.
“You may recall that the released persons were assisted with a token financial assistance of N100,000 each by the military.
“The living condition of the detainees was improved upon with the de-congestion of holding facilities.
“The military requested Amnesty International to provide a member for the investigation panel to look into the allegations but the invitation was not honored by Amnesty International.
“The essence of offering Amnesty International membership of the investigation panel was to guarantee fairness and justice while proving to the world that the military has nothing to hide or cover up.
“The office of Attorney-General of the Federation was also carried along in all the investigations. The military is still conducting investigations on Amnesty International allegations.
Abubakar said in the course of forensic investigations, the withdrawal of troops from the frontline for investigation tended to dampen the morale of soldiers and distract ongoing operations against insurgents.
According to him, this is one reason why the understanding of Amnesty International would be worthwhile.
He said that Amnesty International wrote a five-point questionnaire to the Nigerian military in November 2014 alleging extra judicial killing of some group of people by the military.
“The military responded to the five-point questionnaire immediately and in December, precisely Dec. 23, 2014, Amnesty International sent another 37-point questionnaire to the Nigerian Military
“Which was answered, e-mail and hard copies were delivered to Amnesty International Headquarters in London on Dec. 23, 2014.
“If the military had anything to hide it would not have responded to the 37 questions and others especially in the light of the constraints of timing.
“I appeal to Amnesty International to be patient to see the outcome of the investigation. While it took Amnesty International from 2011 – 2015 to chronicle their allegations, they want the Nigerian Military to investigate and report immediately.
“The investigation is ongoing, Nigerians and the world at large will certainly be informed of the outcome at the end of the investigation,” he said.
Abubakar added that the Nigerian military was open to genuine criticisms and allegations, but that it required time and patience to report back.
“It is in this spirit that Amnesty International and any other interested parties are encouraged to exercise necessary restraint and patience while awaiting the outcome of ongoing investigations,” he said.
(NAN)